On Saturday, an armed, antigovernment group protesting the
jail sentences of two men who set fire to federal land took
control of the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge in southern Oregon.

The occupiers were apparently led by Ammon Bundy, whose father,
Cliven Bundy, made national headlines for a tense standoff with
law enforcement in a similar dispute in 2014.

The younger Bundy said the takeover is necessary in order to
return federal land to the public.

"We're planning on staying here for several years. And while
we're here what we're going to be doing is freeing these lands up
and getting the ranchers back to ranching, getting the miners
back to mining," Ammon Bundy said in a Facebook video.

The Bundy family's armed standoffs with law enforcement is the
result of a
decades-long struggle with federal-government agencies over
the ownership of federal land in rural farming and ranching
regions.

The issue has captured quite a bit of attention from
presidential contenders, especially during Cliven Bundy's
standoff with the federal government in Nevada last year.

But before his comments, many hat-tipped the rancher for his
decision to stand up to the federal government's longstanding
request that Bundy not graze his cattle on government land. When
Bundy did not comply, the government began rounding up his
cattle, contending that he owed more than $1.2 million in
fees.

US Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) is perhaps the most notable
presidential candidate to throw his support behind Bundy.
He reportedly met
with the rancher earlier this year to discuss his dispute with
federal and state land management.

"There's no place in the US Constitution that allows the federal
government to own land. Period. What are you going to do to
correct that problem?" Bundy asked.

"I'd either sell or turn over all land management to the states,"
Paul responded, as the audience applauded.

"We run into problems now with the federal government being this
bully, this big huge government bully. You'd have less trouble
with that if you had local control of the land. State ownership
would be better, but even better would be private ownership,"
Paul added.

Here's the clip:

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson also voiced his support for
Bundy's stand. In a National Review op-ed, he wrote that the
Bundys were "honorable Americans" for standing up
to the US Bureau of Land Management.

In December, Carson also said that he was in favor of turning
over federal land to states.

"What do they need with all that land?" Carson said in December,
according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. "I would
advocate returning land to the states. It's not like they're
irresponsible people who don't care what happens, you know. I
just don't see any benefit from the government owning this much
land."

Finally, real-estate mogul Donald Trump has also expressed some
support for Cliven Bundy. He said in 2014 that he admired Bundy,
saying that the rancher should use the opportunity to cut a
deal with the federal government.

"It's over the top. It's very strong. I like him," Trump
told Fox News' Sean Hannity. "He's in a great position,
I think, to cut a great deal, and that's what he should do."

Paul's and Carson's campaigns did not immediately return Business
Insider's requests for comment on the situation in Oregon.